Potatoes, carrots, onions: The Belgian company Deprez Handling Solutionsdevelops automated systems for handling agricultural products for itscustomers. The specialist relies on the Pallet Box from CABKA: the large plasticload carrier convinces with its high payloads, is perfectly suited for safe use inhigh racks and enables smooth operation of the time- and cost-efficient handlingsystems.

Company: Family-owned Deprez was founded in 1984 by Johan Deprez, who has since been leading the company together with his wife Germana. The first machines developed by Deprez were for the careful handling of potatoes. Carrots, onions, bulk goods, and recyclable goods were only added later. Over the years, Deprez successfully developed an automatic box handling system in combination with an automated warehouse. This concept was introduced in 2008, and Deprez was able to double its capacity since then.

Requirements: Over the years, Deprez observed that potato packers increasingly needed intermediate storage for their products before packing them. In the past, there was hardly any classification, especially for potatoes. The new system was the result of the ever increasing demands of the customers in regards to retail food. Today, the harvest is sorted and sold based on quality or size, which requires that some of the product is temporarily stored during the packaging process. This storage must be hygienic and adhere to the classifications. This is why a storage solution with maximum filling volume and a material other than wood was required.

Solution: Together with his customers, Johan Deprez developed a fully automatic solution, in which the pallet box from CABKA plays a central role.

“Our solution would not exist in this form without the pallet box,” Johan Deprez, founder and CEO.

The Pallet Box has a capacity of 1,400 litres and is made of impact-resistant, chemical-resistant and food-safe HDPE. With a net weight of 69 kilograms in perforated and 72 kilograms in closed design, it is characterised by high payloads of up to 7,000 kilograms in the stack, dynamic and up to 1,000 kilograms when used in high-rack warehouses. Non-slip rubber profiles on the upper edges of the pallet box ensure that up to seven boxes can be safely stacked on top of each other. The containers are designed for applications in the temperature range from minus 30 to plus 50 degrees Celsius.

After harvesting and washing, the potatoes are sorted by an optical sorting system according to their size and placed in the pallet boxes. The loaded boxes are then either fully-automatically stored in the high-bay or forwarded directly to the packaging line, depending on their use. With subsequent use, a system-integrated Orbiter Box Tipper can fully automatically empty the boxes onto the corresponding packaging lines. All handling from the arrival of the products to the dispatch of the finished goods takes place without a single manual work step.

Cooperation: When Deprez plans a process automation solution with a new customer, they recommend CABKA’s Pallet Box. Deprez-Systems are so strongly interlocked with the use of pallet boxes, that when installing a new installation in cooperation with with CABKA a smooth handling of the goods is guaranteed.

Result: The companies that use the Pallet Box in Deprez’s integrated handling solutions are gaining a huge advantage over their competitors, as fully automated handling is rarely found so far.